Solis Puer
by Kalanna Dae
Summary: Example. Test Subject. Punching bag. Whipping post. All of those fit Kim Chung. But human? Definitely not.


Hey everyone! This is actually my first X-Men fic, so I'm super-excited to be publishing this!

In case anyone's wondering, I actually completed this months ago for the Superhero Shorty March Challenge on a forum called Writer's Intuition. The challenge was to "Write a shorty about a new super hero that you created from scratch" and "explain reasons why he or she is a super hero, their ability(s), their conflicts and pros of being a hero and how it happened." Since then it has gone through some much-needed editing, as well as clarifying Kim's powers a little bit more.

And in case any Power Rangers fans are reading this, Aman was slightly inspired by Bridge from SPD (3).

I hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own X-Men. I am incapable of owning such awesomeness. However, I do own Kim, Aman, Saiorse and Deroy.

Rated T for some language, a little violence, and mention of torture and other such unpleasantness.

**Title:**** Solis Puer**

**Author:**** daedhel/Kalanna Dae**

**Superhero Name:**** Sunstreak**

**Special Ability(s):**** Solar energy absorption, projection, and manipulation**

**Real Name:**** Kim "Sunny" Chung**

**Appearance:**** Kelly Vitz**

Kim inched forward, pressing herself up against the bars of her cell as she heard the door open. It had been a long time since her last torture session, and while she hated the whippings and beatings, it helped remind her that someone out there still remembered her. That she wouldn't die in here, surrounded by nothing but darkness and shadows.

But it was not a beating that she would get today, she realized, for

Kim's ears now picked up the sounds of footsteps and struggling.

Another one. Kim mentally cursed the mad scientist that ran this place, who was responsible for taking so many other mutants away from their families. Whenever they captured a new mutant, they would always spend some time in the cell next to hers, so they could see what could happen if they struggled against their captors too much. Then Kim was left alone in her isolation again, broken only by the guards taking her away for more tests and beatings. For that was all she was now: experiment, example, and punching bag.

The guards came into view, holding a struggling mass between them.

Rather unexpectedly, one of them cried out.

"It bit me!"

The other responded by kneeing the mass in the stomach.

"Wanna try that again mutie?"

There was a pause, then the sound of spit hitting a face, a sound Kim knew well: she had spit on more than a few faces during her time here.

A growl came, and the beating began in earnest, as it always did at the smallest insult towards them.

Kim pushed away from the bars. Pulling her hair around so she could examine it. Mixed in among the black, she was relieved to see a few strands of gold remaining.

She knew it was unlikely that she could escape the facility; it was too big for that. But when she could, she tried to save her fellow prisoners from beatings from the guards. It was difficult, for she often did not have enough power to make a difference and she was kept separate from the others.

Knowing the guards would do their best to get their hands on her, she moved to the far corner of her cell, where they couldn't reach her. And the lower guards didn't have the keys to the cells either, since it was too easy for their mutant prisoners to reach through the bars and snatch them.

Concentrating, Kim closed her eyes and reached inside herself for that little of energy, all too aware of the sounds of fists hitting skin. Just when Kim panicked that she couldn't find it, she did. A little glowing bit of energy.

And her eyes snapped open.

A golden wave of energy suddenly appeared, knocking the guards onto the ground before dissipating. A tendril of the same golden colour grabbed the mass on the floor and dragged it into the cell while a smaller tendril slammed the cell door shut. A lock could be heard clicking into place.

All was quiet for a few seconds before a hand snakes its way in between the bars of Kim's cell.

"You little bitch!"

Another hand pulled the first back. "Leave it. She'll be punished." Their footsteps echoed as the guards retreated, abruptly cut off as a door slammed shut.

A shuffling sound drew Kim's attention back to the cell beside her and she focused on the mass that was no longer on the floor.

He looked to be around her age, maybe a little older, but he was most definitely a mutant. Both his tanned skin and black hair had a slight tinge of blue to them with unnaturally colored bright blue eyes completing the unsettling effect. His clothes were ripped and dirty, accentuating the gills on his neck. A hand gripped the bars between the cells rather awkwardly due to the webbing between his fingers.

"That was you, wasn't it?"

Kim nodded, though she wasn't sure he could see in the dim lighting.

A pause. "Thanks."

Another pause. "Name's Aman. Aman Khalid."

Kim blinked slowly at him, though he didn't notice.

"You don't talk much do you? That's fine. Probably won't talk much either after a few months of this place. We'll see though. My mom always said it's impossible for me to shut up." At the mention of his mother, a pained look came over his face, though it disappeared quickly. "But I assure you, I am quite capable of keeping quiet, I mean, I have to sleep sometime. Unless I talk in my sleep. Don't know if I do though. Because I am asleep when I'm asleep..."

Kim gave a small laugh, one of the few sounds she could still make, though she wasn't sure exactly why.

"Aha! There we go! So what's your name? Sorry for not asking earlier, which was awfully rude of me. Need to work on my manners..."

Kim couldn't but be amused at the irony. Deciding to put him out of his misery, Kim scooted up next to him, opening her mouth and allowing Aman to see what was inside. Or rather, what wasn't inside.

It was a little scary to see him shut up so quickly, his eyes going wide and mouth forming a very round 'O'.

"Sorry. I was rubbing it in your face wasn't I? Gosh, I'm so stup-"

Reaching through the bars, Kim put her hand over his mouth, cutting off another apology. She smiled, trying to tell him with her eyes that it wasn't his fault.

He seemed to get the message and relaxed slightly up against the bars.

"So... uh... how did that happen? Or were you just born without it?"

Jerking her head in the direction the guards had gone, Kim then made a snipping motion not unlike the one used in Rock, Paper, Scissors.

Aman cursed under his breath. "Those bastards. And they say we're the one that aren't human."

She shrugged. She had accepted the loss of her tongue a long time ago, learning not to dwell on it.

Any further 'conversation' was cut off by footsteps signaling the approach of guards.

The door to her cell swung open. The guards' supervisor sneered down at her.

"Ready for the whipping post, bitch?"

Aman wasn't there when she was thrown back into her cell. After the guards were gone, she carefully aimed in the direction they had gone and spit the blood out of her mouth.

It actually hadn't been a whipping this time, just a beating, which wasn't as bad. She had grown used to feeling of fists, elbows, and knees hitting her body. She only hoped that by beating her, the guards were less prone to beating the other prisoners. Though she doubted it.

Days passed, or as far as Kim could tell, but Aman was never put back into her cell. So she reverted back to her usual routine: staring out into the near-darkness until she passed out from exhaustion only to wake up and do so again.

Ororo Munroe, or more generally known as Storm, peered out into the darkness from the cockpit of the Blackbird at the compound that was their target. A rogue government scientist by the name of Deroy had, according to government agents, a number of experiments on mutants going on here. The sheer number of mutants confirmed, over thirty, had prompted those responsible for bringing Deroy in to partner with the X- Men for the simple fact that the captured mutants would be far more cooperative with fellow mutants coming to their rescue.

As Storm prepared to land, she could hear Logan giving final instructions to those in the back. Pretty much everyone had opted to come along on this mission, as they almost always did when experiments were involved. Pete, Kitty, Rogue, Bobby: they were all here. Even Warren had come, taking a break from being the school's ethics teacher. Hank and Saiorse, who had held the position of the school's in-house doctor since shortly after Alcatraz, were back at the mansion, looking after the children with a few of the older kids.

"Soldiers are going in a couple minutes ahead of us. Our goal is find those captured and get them out, while the soldiers are going to subdue the compound security. But if any of us find Deroy, we are to capture him, alive.

"The mutants being held are spread out throughout the building, so we're going to have to split up."

Storm landed the jet and lowered the exit ramp. She exited last, remotely raising it again once outside with the others.

Logan took off at a run. "Let's go."

Aman was curled in the corner of her cell when the sound of a struggle reached his ears. He moved to the edge of his cell, peering out just in time to see a man stab a guard.

Letting the guard fall to the ground, the man turned around to look at Aman, asking, "You okay, kid?"

Barely able to nod, Aman could only watch in relief as the man came over and slashed through the lock with his... claws?

Helping Aman up, he led him out of the cell. "Come on, let's get you out of here."

Going out into the corridor beyond, they met up with a few others that looked like Aman felt, and a white-haired woman in the same black leather as the man who had rescued him.

"Any more Storm?"

The woman, Storm, shook her head. "The others have combed the facility. This should be it."

The man turned, and lifting up one of Aman's fellow prisoners, led the way down the corridor. "This way!"

Aman scanned those around him, worried that she wasn't with him. When they met up with a couple other groups similar to theirs and he still doesn't see her, Aman knew he had to speak up.

Going up to the man who had rescued him, who was handing his burden off to a mutant with silver skin, he half yelled, "There's still someone in there!"

Turning around, the man turned around with a questioning look. "You sure?"

Aman nodded.

Turning to his silver-skinned companion, he asked, "Colossus?"

The mutant frowned. "We didn't see anyone else."

Cutting in, Aman said, "They kept her isolated. I mean, more so than everyone else."

Logan sighed. "Think you can show us where?"

Aman bit his lip. "I think so."

"Then let's go."

The facility was eerily quiet, except for the distant sound of gunfire from somewhere in the compound.

Logan pushed down a growl of frustration as the kid with him once again paused at a crossroads. He wanted to get out of here with those they rescued sooner rather than later. But they weren't going to be leaving anyone behind.

Then they stopped in front of a door, and the kid pulled it open. "This is it."

There were two cells in the dark room, though one of them was empty. At first Logan thought the other one was as well, but then his sharp eyes picked out a small mass huddled in a corner.

And she wasn't alone. There was Deroy, kneeling on the ground beside the girl, about to inject a needle into her skin.

Before Logan could do anything however, the kid with him (what had he said his name was, Amin, Amam?) raised a webbed hand and water from a puddle rose and formed itself into a small ball. Which then, with a wave of a hand, went speeding towards Deroy and collided with his head with a large "thunk". The scientist collapsed, obviously unconscious.

The kid grinned up at Logan, "I so wanted to do that ever since his men captured me."

Logan chose not to comment. Stepping into the cell and over Deroy, he picked up the girl. She was small, looking to be only about 5'2", and her ribs stood out against her skin. Her features were decidedly Asian, and dull black hair, a tangled mess, fell far past her waist.

Checking her over for injuries, Logan was revolted to find more than he wanted to, including some whip marks.

Picking her up gingerly, he motioned for Aman to follow him. "Let's go."

Turning back, Aman indicated Deroy. "What about him?"

Shifting the girl to one arm, Logan pulled the cell door shut, the lock clicking shut automatically.

"Someone will get him later."

Bright light met Kim's eyes as she opened them. A groan escaped her lips as she threw up an arm to shield her eyes. A woman's soft voice floated to her ears.

"Good, you're awake."

Moving her arm, Kim allowed her eyes to adjust to the light, allowing her to see the figure hovering over her.

And the figure was definitely not a human, Kim realized as her eyes met bright green glowing ones. Kim did her best to show her confusion, hoping the woman would understand.

She did. As she helped Kim sit up, she explained, "You're at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, a school for mutants. You were brought here after you were rescued from Deroy's complex last night. You'll be safe here."

Safe. The word was almost alien to Kim.

And then they sunk in.

Tearing the needle out of her arm when the woman turned her back, Kim rolled out of the bed, ignoring the shakiness of her legs. And then she ran, ignoring the sounds of surprise coming from the room she left.

The hallway outside was just as white of the... infirmary, she realized. It was accented with blue metal and 'x' symbols.

Two people had entered the hallway from another entry at the same time as Kim, and she ran past them now.

She barely recognized the shouts for her to stop as she stepped into the elevator: vaguely remembering how they worked, she quickly found the button to close the doors, which she pushed frantically.

The silence of the elevator was a stark contrast to her heavy breathing, which bothered Kim: she hated the silence for reminding her that she couldn't break it, not really.

Then the doors opened, and Kim was off again.

Kim couldn't help but notice the huge difference in her surroundings: the dark wood and warm light. And then she found what she was looking for.

Pushing the door open, Kim ran outside and for the first time in years, she felt the full warmth of the sun, even as she felt the energy soaking into her skin. Almost reverently, she sat down own the grass.

Looking down at her long hair, which had never been cut in all her long years of captivity, Kim was pleased to already see a few strands turn from dull black to shiny gold.

She heard footsteps approach from behind. She twisted her body around to see Aman, the woman from before, and a rather gruff looking man approach.

Sitting down beside her, the woman smiled. "I think you would prefer to be outside?"

Kim blushed, and allowing a small smile to break through, nodded before ducking her head in embarrassment, though she didn't know why she was embarrassed exactly.

Aman sat down on her other side, "So the sun bleaches your hair, is that your power?"

Focusing, Kim allowed a small bit of energy to form a gold fist, which punched his leg lightly before dissipating.

Aman rubbed the spot gingerly. "Hey! I was just joking!"

"Kim's mutation centers around the absorption of solar energy, which accounts for her escapade when she woke up. As far as I can tell, she probably hasn't seen the sun in years.

"Once the energy enters her body, she can then project it into shapes, either solid or as pure energy."

Hank took over from Saiorse. "However, Kim's output of energy is significantly larger than her input."

Logan grunted. "What does that mean exactly?"

Saiorse rolled her bright green eyes. Answering for Hank, she replied, "Technical jargon aside, the energy she absorbs is the equivalent of enough to power a small house, what she projects is enough for a city."

Logan sat back in surprise.

"Exactly. Her body somehow converts small amounts of energy into larger ones, which is, or at least, we're assuming why Deroy was so interested in her."

Storm cut in then. "Kim is could be the key to unlocking energy for the entire planet. If her small body can absorb that much, imagine what could happen if solar panels could do if they were capable of the conversion she is."

Hank spoke again. "Her body suffered from the same malnutrition and dehydration as the others rescued did, though hers is a bit more severe due to the length of her captivity. She has more than a few scars, and on her back there are some that look like whip marks. Then, of course, there's the loss of her tongue."

Logan gave a grunt of disgust, and turning to Saiorse, asked, "How long did they have this girl?"

The green eyed doctor sighed, "Five years. She was twelve when she was taken from her foster home and she's seventeen now. Her powers manifested when she was nine."

"Her hair?" Storm asked.

Hank answered this one. "Consider her hair her charge display: the more gold, the more energy she has. When it's completely gold, her body has stored all the energy it can."

Logan leaned forward, "Is she going to stay?"

Storm shrugged. "It's hard to say. But I think if Aman stays, she will as well. She seems to have formed a bond with him."

**Two years later...**

Kim carefully leaned around the corner, checking to see if the hallway was clear. Seeing no one, she carefully tiptoed down the hallway.

The whisper of shoes on the carpet was her only warning before being tackled to the ground.

A little close to her ear, a voice shouted, "Happy Birthday!"

Using her pointed finger, she carefully wrote in the air, 'Aman!' before allowing the gold letters to fade away.

Grinning, Aman got to his feet and offered a webbed hand to help her up before pushing her towards the common room. "Come on, everyone's waiting!"

'You know I hate birthdays.'

"The only one in the mansion it seems. Come on Sunshine."

At the use of his favorite nickname for her, Kim groaned and allowed him to lead her forward.

Sunshine, or usually Sunny had been derived from her codename Sunstreak, a play on her gold hair and Bobby's favorite Transformers character. How she ended up with either name was begin her, but when it came to the other younger X-Men, Kim had long learned that it was easier not to argue.

She had never planned on joining the X-Men. Her only plans at the time were to stay at the mansion and catch up on five years of missed education. But when Storm had made the offer to her, Aman and a few others from the raid, she couldn't help but remember helping out her fellow prisoners when she could. She wanted to continue helping others, Kim had realized. And the X-Men was the best place to do it.

But it hadn't been easy. Kim had had her limits constantly pushed, both physically and mentally. Her small frame was now lean with muscles (according to Logan, her left hook was amazing) and she had discovered more uses for her solar projection than she could have ever dreamed. And now her own uniform hung beside the others', its gold trim reflecting the fluorescent light in the basement. Schoolwork was difficult as well, as not being educated for five years had left her severely behind the others. Kim was still catching up, two years after her ordeal.

Communication had been another obstacle to overcome. While writing in the air using her mutation was fine around other mutants, mutant-human relations were not so good that Kim was willing to risk her safety and that of those around her. And so sign language was introduced into the school's curriculum, for both Kim and the others so she could be interpreted around humans. On missions Storm and Logan had made the decision that Kim have a partner with her at all times. If she absolutely had to go solo, a prearranged set of signals and Morse code, communicated by taps through her comm, helped to bridge the gap.

She had made more than a few friends at the mansion as well. Kim had grown quite close to the other girls around her age and Saiorse Lambert, the doctor she had run away from when she had first woken, had taken Kim under her wing. She had taken to being field medic for missions, something she enjoyed.

Out of all those she knew, Aman was the one she was closest to. He was her best friend and she his. He always seemed to know what she was thinking, making Kim wonder if he didn't have telepathy in addition to his hydrokinesis and ability to breath underwater. He denied it.

Nevertheless, he was the one who comforted her the times she felt frustrated over her inability to communicate and she was the one who threw him into the pool when he was being stupid. They balanced each other nicely, his talkativeness making up for her silence.

Aman had asked Kim out several times, but each and every time she told him no. She thought he deserved someone who wasn't broken the way she was, who could still laugh at his jokes.

But as Aman pulled back, letting her step into the common room first, Kim couldn't help but give him a small smile. He was only looking out for her, she knew.

Steeling herself for the shouts that would definitely come, her pointer finger ready to write, she pushed the door open.

FIN

Any reviews are greatly appreciated. In addition to that, I have been begged by some on Writer's Intuition to write an expanded version of this. So if you're asking if I will write an extended version, yes, I plan to. Don't know when though. Plot bunnies cannot be controlled. However, if anyone has any ideas for OCs, plotlines, etc, let me know, since I don't have a lot of ideas for this yet.

Flames will also be used to roast marshmallows. Yummy!


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